This invention relates to cable splice assemblies. More particularly, it relates to an improved cable strain relief for cable splice assemblies.
In field installation of telephone cable, it is often necessary to splice the ends of the cable together. The actual splice connections are made between the ends of the corresponding communication conductors within each cable. A portion of the jacket and shield are removed from the ends of each cable to be spliced and the conductors are exposed. In order to avoid corrosion of the conductors and other hazards, it is necessary to enclose the spliced conductors with a cable splice closure. A cable splice closure quite often is made of a metal or plastic material having two halves which are clamped together. An example of such a splice closure is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,982,319 issued to Bice. The Bice patent also shows a clamp which squeezes down on a portion of the splice closure, as well as the outside of the cable, to provide strain relief for the spliced connections within the splice closure. Other state of the art strain reliefs utilize a strain relief bar connected between bonding clips which pierce the cable shield and jacket.
Quite often these splice closures are filled with a jelly-like material which prevents moisture from coming into contact with the actual metallic splices. An alternative approach to this type of jell-filled splice closure is shown in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 69,023, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,592, assigned to Akzona Incorporated, assignee of the present invention. In this application, the splice closure is constructed of a container having a top with two holes therein for receiving the respective cables. The box is filled with a heavier-than-water oil, and the splices are submerged within the oil. If moisture does penetrate the box, it would lie on top of the oil and hydrostatic pressure would enhance the contact between the oil and the splice joints. After the construction of this box-oil splice closure as described above, it became apparent that conventional strain relief, such as clamping the ends of the cable directly to the case and/or using a load transfer rod between cable clamps with teeth connecting the cables together for transferring stress between the cables, was not very effective.